Mantle installation

Monday morning started out with a bang. A new hire, Annie, started this morning. When I arrived at the Fox & Hounds Pub she was waiting and eager to start. Our task was to install the routed mantle on the fireplace and finish framing the upper portion of the fireplace feature. There was lots of figuring to be done, coordination with the electrician and other trades. We would be working inside the pub which was operating. We were the entertainment for the day.
Annie knew the tools well and had done carpentry work before, but never anything quite like this. Nothing was straight and we worked without levels or straight edges. Everything was built by eye. She caught on quickly. While I built one side she would follow along on the other, matching my creations. 
The curves were gentle enough that I didn’t need to use the heating pad to bend the Precision Board. I had milled the pieces to be 1/2 – 3/4″ thick at most and so they took the bends without breaking. We used PB Bond-240 and it held securely in no time. I’ll be using the die grinder to tidy up the corners and match the woodgrain as it transitions from the front to the top and bottom. The curved mantle absolutely works with the curved roof above. the wall of the upper fireplace bows out about 6″ and the mantle is almost 14″ deep. The london roofline above is now almost tied into the bottom portion. and it WORKS!
We were almost done before the electrician turned on the power to the lights and there was instant magic. In the next days we’ll staple on the diamond lath and then start in on the carved concrete ‘brick work’. By next week it should be looking like the magical fireplace I designed, what now seems like ages ago.
The guests love the family crest and are curious as to the translation of the latin phrase on the front. We happily translated it for them when they asked. The crest is suspended about four inches off the back face of the sunken circle and throws a marvelous shadow while it catches the light in a spectacular fashion. It will look even better when it is painted up and then aged appropriately. I can hardly wait to see it all done!
It was a fun day with lots of progress. 
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Mantle routing file

Yesterday the temporary floor which we worked on to build the ‘London roofline’ came down. I could then size up exactly how I would build the new fireplace facade. After looking things over I decided I would use a wood frame for the bulk of the construction and welded steel for the bits around the fireplace opening. All will be covered with a layer of sculpted concrete. I fastened a piece of plywood to the center portion of the fireplace and hung the family crest as a point of reference. Everything would be scaled to this. Then I framed in the mantle using 3/4″ plywood. I will glue the routed 30 lb Precision Board over this form.
I then used the wooden mantle form to create a 1/4″ plywood pattern in two halves. It is just a hair under 11 feet wide. I took a picture of this pattern to create the vectors I needed by simply tracing it out. My client requested ‘genuine’ Old English lettering for the pub name.
I did the Lettering in Illustrator but it could have been done in EnRoute. I then brought the vectors into EnRoute to begin creating the reliefs. Since my board (and router) are only eight feet long I needed to break the file into sections to route. I drew a box and brought the bottom corners in to the angle of the bend.  I also did an 0.7″outline of the mantle shape to enlarge the mantle front enough to put a 1/2″ top and bottom piece of Precision Board on the mantle. I’ll carve those in place with the die grinder. I deleted the original smaller mantle shape and used the jigsaw tool to create the three pieces of the mantle front.
The text was then centered on the mantle.
I created the three flat reliefs at 0.4″ height. The I imported the horizontal sandblasted wood grain bitmap from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection. It stretched out to 12 feet without difficulty. I also stretched it out vertically to fit the mantle in a section of grain I liked. It was applied with a value of 0.2″
The lettering has a 0.3″ border. I first created a relief using this border vector. This was merged highest with the mantle pieces. Lastly the bevelled lettering is added to the relief.
 The tool pathing was done with a 3/8″ ball nose bit for the rough pass and a 1/8″ ball nose bit for the final.
I’ll route the pieces in the next days, and then install next week.
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.